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The area around the Metro Tech Center in Downtown Brooklyn has become a mecca for higher education with about 57,000 students enrolled in local colleges and universities to prove it.

57,000 students can't be wrong -- Downtown Brooklyn is 'College Town'

Students have been flocking to downtown institutions like the newly merged NYU-Polytechnic, NYC College of Technology, Long Island University, Brooklyn Law School, St. Francis College, Empire State College and nearby St. Joseph’s College and Pratt Institute, causing many to believe that this budding college town will be the next Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Downtown Brooklyn “is already a college town and has more students than Cambridge” said Michael Burke, executive director of policy and strategic planning at the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership (DBP), a non-profit corporation committed to the revitalization of Downtown Brooklyn.

According to the 2005 City of Cambridge statistics, just over 38,000 students attend colleges and universities in that area.

Downtown Brooklyn has a lot to offer students and its location is just one reason students attend school there -- it is in a prime spot that is accessible by most subway trains, the Long Island Railroad and by both the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges.

Cynthia Ward, Dean of the Empire State College SUNY Metropolitan Center, said that “accessibility” is important for students who attend the institution. Since the college opened a new campus in June 2008 on 177 Livingston St, the institution has seen “a 200% increase of students” said Dean Ward, making the Brooklyn campus “the fastest growing location”.

Students are also drawn to the schools in the area because of their reputations and resources. Guangyun Zhang, a transfer student at NYU-Poly majoring in computer science, said that the school’s reputation is what drew him to the Downtown Brooklyn area. “Polytechnic is one of the finest universities and it has strong majors like computer science and electrical engineering” said Guangyun. The school, he said “has a variety of resources for each major”.

NYU-Polytechnic, one of the oldest institutions in the area, was founded in 1854, specializing in science and technology and it has accomplished milestones in each of these areas.

The ongoing economic crisis is cited as one the reasons the Downtown institutions are attracting so many students. Long Island University has seen an increase in its students and this growth is “especially high among graduate students” said Peg Byron, director of public relations at the university. She went further, saying that many people are returning to college “to fortify their careers”. Long Island University was founded in 1926.

St. Francis College, a private college that began in 1884, has seen an increase in students and attributes the rise not only to the economy but to its tuition costs and reputation. “While we have been seeing a rise in applications since before the economic downturn, we do believe that some of our incoming students are with us now because our modest tuition prompted them to take a second look at our quality programs and track record,” said director of admissions John McAuliffe.

The DBP has worked with more than 75 Downtown merchants to ensure that students invest in the local businesses. They have launched a Value Card program where students can go into participating businesses and receive 10 to 20 percent discount with an ID card.

Since Downtown Brooklyn was rezoned in 2004, there has been a push to change this once-commercial area into one that is residential and academic. The DBP is at the helm and its mission is to “enhance Downtown Brooklyn’s position as a viable mixed-used commercial, cultural, academic and residential center.”

Many of the institutions provide housing for the students in the area and this has contributed to the change of demographics in Downtown Brooklyn. Brooklyn Law School, which was founded in 1901, has 10 student residences in the area. An official at the school who declined to be identified said that the residences "can house up to 500 students, so the students are staying in the area."

According to the DBP, there are 60 Downtown projects that are either completed, under construction or still in the planning phase. The goal is to transform Downtown Brooklyn by 2012. Some of these works include the underground pedestrian tunnel that will connect the Jay Street and Lawrence Street subway stations, creating a larger transport hub.

Then there is the construction of the many residential units -- 11 residential buildings, many of them condominiums, have been completed and there are five more are under construction.